Elephant Tragedy an Accident Waiting to Happen

Yesterday’s trampling to death of an elephant handler has raised alarm bells
with regards to the safety of South Africa’s burgeoning elephant back safari and
tourism industry.

On Tuesday, a bull elephant killed an elephant handler at the Knysna Elephant
Park, between Knysna and Plettenberg Bay in the Western Cape, reportedly while
out on a morning excursion.

IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare – www.ifaw.org) and its partner organisation, the
Ethical Conservation Network (ECN), have expressed dismay at the tragedy but
warned that, as elephant tourism becomes more extensive, the chance of more
people being injured and possibly killed by the giant pachyderms becomes more
likely.

“This is the first time someone has been killed by a so-called tame, trained
elephant in South Africa, but elephants in the tourism industry are known to
have injured several guests and handlers in recent years,” said Jason
Bell-Leask, IFAW’s Director Southern Africa.

IFAW and ECN recently launched their Born to be Wild! Campaign to oppose the
removal of elephants from the wild for commercial purposes.

“Elephants are rapidly becoming conservation’s latest commodity with
increasing numbers of animals being taken from the wild for lives in captivity,
including the elephant back safari and tourism industry,” said Bell-Leask.

“Training methods are entirely unregulated and therefore open to widespread
abuse. No laws exist in South Africa to govern methods used in training
elephants for safari tourism; trainers and handlers themselves do not require
any formal training or education, and, the industry is generating an increasing
demand for elephants,” he said.

South Africa’s elephant back safari and tourism industry began with a single
operator four years ago, and has since grown to include nine operators, with at
least 72 elephants currently being used for this form of tourism in four of the
country’s nine provinces.

Internationally, verified reports show, approximately one in 600 elephant
handlers in the United States is killed each year and elephants kill more zoo
personnel than all other species of animal kept in zoos and circuses combined.
In Thailand it is estimated that about 200 mahouts (elephant trainers) are
killed each year.

“IFAW is absolutely opposed to the use of elephants for elephant-back safari
tourism or to be taken from the wild into any type of captive environment for
commercial purposes, be that a zoo, safari park or circus.

“This tragic turn of events at the Knysna Elephant Park, which has left one
man dead and his wife and three children without a husband and father, should
sound a warning bell of the dangers of this kind of tourism. It needs to be
stopped, and it needs to be stopped now,” said Bell-Leask.

About the Ethical Conservation Network (ECN)“The Ethical Conservation Network” supports the responsible and
respectful custodianship of wilderness as the basis for ensuring the survival
and genetic health of wild animal populations for future generations. Thus, it
supports the acquisition of protected habitat for wild animals. “The Ethical
Conservation Network opposes the willful exploitation of wilderness and the
irresponsible, unethical, exploitative and inhumane treatment of wild animals
for commercial gain.”